Aggies men's basketball remains focused, wins eighth straight

It hasn't for the New Mexico State men's basketball team. The Aggies won their eighth consecutive game, beating Texas State 86-72 on Thursday in San Marcos, Texas.

"It's a testament to the depth and the way these guys have hung together," Aggies head coach Marvin Menzies said.

NMSU (14-8, 8-2 Western Athletic Conference) played Thursday without K.C. Ross-Miller (hamstring), Tshilidzi Nephawe (hand) and Tyrone Watson (suspended), yet had a career night from Remi Barry off the bench, Renaldo Dixon had eight points and three rebounds in his second career start and the Aggies didn't miss a beat offensively.

The Aggies finished 55.6 percent from the field, 6-for-11 from 3-point range and had four players in double figures.

Hours after the university announced Watson was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team policy, Watson watched from the Aggies bench as the Aggies won for the third straight time on the road in WAC play.

"I was just trying to get going early because I know we are missing (Watson)," Aggies senior forward Bandja Sy said. "I was just taking open shots."
Sy led the Aggies with 24 points and 13 rebounds as NMSU out rebounded Texas State 42-33. Daniel Mullings scored 22 points and Sim Bhullar and Barry each scored 10 points.

"It started with us knowing that we can get any shot that we wanted to on offense," said Aggies guard Daniel Mullings, who finished with 22 points on 6-for-13 shooting with five assists and three steals.

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"We knew we had an advantage inside, with (Bhullar) especially. We had a lot of open opportunities and we took advantage, especially Bandja."

Sy set the tone early on, scoring 14 of the team's first 16 points in the first six minutes of the game. Sy faked a 3 and soared in from the left for a two-handed dunk to put the Aggies up four early as the Aggies made eight of their first 10 shots.

"It wasn't like (Sy) was out there just jacking shots," Menzies said. "Even his 3s were inside-out. He just showed a lot of patience. He started off like that and then was a facilitator and had a great rebounding night."

Sy got the Aggies off to a hot start that they maintained in the first half for a 45-36 lead at halftime. The Aggies made six of their first eight 3-pointers of the game. Kevin Aronis nailed a triple to put NMSU up 61-46 with 11:28 to play.

The Aggies held Texas State to 36.4 percent and NMSU committed 13 turnovers with 15 assists, led by Terrel de Rouen's six assists.

"Watching film, we knew that we could get any shot that we wanted to," Sy said. "We just had to be patient and move the ball and don't let them score in transition. That was the game plan."

NMSU shot 55.6 percent in the first half, taking a 10-point lead on a B.J. West 3-pointer with 4:28 to play in the half. West's first made field goal since Jan. 3 against Texas-San Antonio extended the cushion that a 9-0 NMSU run created.

After Texas State took a brief lead at 25-24 with 9:09 left in the first half, the Aggies scored nine straight, capped by a de Rouen triple to push the lead back to nine with 6:07 left.

Much like the first meeting between the teams - a 78-67 NMSU victory in Las Cruces - the Bobcats hung around but never threatened.

"In practice, we always treat it as a game situation," Mullings said. "We go 100 percent at each other. We are just competitive so we are ready to step up when our number is called."

Jason Groves can be reached at (575) 541-5459. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.